Mockingbird
by Lilliana Greenleaf
Summary: Basile just moved in with his cousin, Marinette, after his parents were killed in a fire. Like her, he also has a secret. He is Mockingbird, a new superhero with powers just as incredible as those of Ladybug and Chat Noir. However, unlike them, he is susceptible to the darkness around him. (aged up, rating might change)
1. Chapter 1

Like a lot of good, heart-wrenching tragedies, this one started with a move. Basile was just like his cousin, Marinette: half french and half Chinese, only he had lived in China all of his life. He had the same blue eyes, and similar raven hair, though his was a bit closer to black. They were even the same age, though Basile was a few months older, both in their junior year of high school. Basile moved in with his Aunt and Uncle after his parents had been killed in a fire.

Learning advanced French was easy, since his mother had already taught him the basics, and Marinette taught him over the summer. Until the storage room was cleared out for him, he slept in a sleeping bag on Marinette's floor. It was a bit awkward at first, since they had only met once before, when they were toddlers, but they gradually set into a routine. While Marinette got ready, Basile ate breakfast, then they switched. It worked for them and the awkwardness soon faded.

Basile liked to go up on the balcony at night, when Marinette was asleep. He hadn't slept well since the fire, but who could blame him? The guilt was crushing, even though the fire wasn't his fault. He liked to stare at the stars and wonder if his parents were up there somewhere. He decided that they weren't, because stars were very hot. Perhaps they were in the clouds during the day instead.

Basile learned about Ladybug and Chat Noir a few weeks into the summer, when he found Marinette going over the Ladyblog and seemingly talking to herself. When he had shown curiosity about Paris's superheroes, she had gladly explained what she could to him. Little did she know, his curiosity was because he was like them.

Of course, he heard about Adrien, and would listen to her gush about him for hours on end. It seemed that even after nearly six years of knowing him, she still couldn't bring herself to form more than two coherent sentences. Basile wanted to help his cousin. His source may have been biased, but this Adrien sounded like a nice guy.

Then he met Alya. It was an accident, really. Basile was taking a nap on the floor in the sun, minding his own business, when suddenly someone had stepped on him. He let out a shout and Alya let out a startled scream. After a few minutes of rolling on the floor laughing, Marinette had introduced them. They got along well, especially when Alya learned of Basile's interest in the Ladyblog.

Basile also enjoyed living with the Dupains because of the delicious treats he received at every opportunity. Marinette's parents loved to spoil him, and he loved being spoiled. His parents had always been harsh on him, though they loved him, and being treated like a lost puppy was rather nice. Of course, he still kept up with his talents, practicing the piano on his battery-powered piano and singing every day. Marinette loved to listen to him, and when Alya discovered this, she did too. He would sing to them for hours at a time.

Then school began, and Basile had the anxiety that every high schooler did on their first day in a completely new place. Marinette helped him pick out an outfit from his suitcase for the first day; she was the fashion expert, after all. He wore a navy t-shirt, a black jacket, a pair of black dress pants, and navy tennis shoes. the first day. Marinette had designed the jacket herself. She loved having a model around all the time, and especially loved having one who was not only willing, but eager to put up with her fashion antics.

Basile nearly got cold feet the moment he saw the school gates, but Marinette wouldn't let him turn around. Alya saw them and waved, jogging over with her boyfriend, Nino, in tow. Basile shook hands with Nino, and Nino declared him an official Bro. Basile didn't really get it, but he went with it.

Then he met the infamous Adrien Agreste. Basile was reminded of a Greek God. Adrien had grown from an angel-faced middle schooler to a teen heart-throb high-schooler with a chiseled jaw, naturally seductive eyes, and the perfect body. _No wonder this kid's a model,_ Basil thought. He had seen pictures, but the real thing was something else entirely.

Basile got along with Adrien as well, and managed to help Marinette along while talking to him. The group seemed to accept him, and he appreciated that. Having no friends in a new school would be rough.

Basile actually turned out to be pretty popular with the students. He was pretty attractive himself, and being from another country made him something to be curious about. Basile had trouble remembering names, so he gave everyone nicknames in his mind and remembered their real names that way. Nathanael caught his eye. The red-head was shy and adorable, and Basile found himself with a little crush-at-first-sight.

Basile didn't like Chloe. She was nice enough to him at first, trying to get him to become one of her willing servants, but he didn't like her. Her face looked heavy, and she was rude to Marinette. He felt bad for her ginger friend, Sabrina.

School went well. Basil had little trouble with the language barrier, thanks to Marinette. She didn't know much Chinese, but she was able to help him for the most part, though he did pretty well on his own.

However, class was interrupted rather abruptly when they were returning from lunch. The teacher had been akumized and was now _The Teachinator_. Marinette disappeared. Basile slowly backed out of the room while the Teachinator gave everyone detention (by supergluing them to their chairs). Basile ran to the bathroom, unzipping a pocket in his jacket. A little white and grey kwami with feathery ears, like an owl's, popped out, complaining loudly about his nap being disturbed. "Ptak, wake up, we've got a problem. Transform me!" Ptak was absorbed into his necklace, a small silver feather.

In a flash, Basile was put into a gray and white suit resembling the feathers of a mockingbird, with feathers attached to his arms. With those, he couldn't fly, but he could glide just fine. He ran out of the bathroom and outside to where the Teachinator was on the roof, reigning terror on the citizens. He bumped right into someone wearing a leather cat suit. "Ouch!" They both fell on their rear ends.

"Ah, you must be Chat Noir," Basile was the first to pick himself up and held out a hand to the confused superhero. "That's me, but who are you?" "Mockingbird. I recently moved here. So what's your super villain like?" He asked as if it were completely normal.

Chat Noir stood and told him about Hawkmoth as they scaled the building together. Basile was perplexed, "that's pretty impressive actually. Mine just turned normal people into henchman, no super powers. I already beat her," Basile landed on the roof. There, he recognized Ladybug with her yoyo battling superglue blots from the Teachinator. He drew his weapons, a pair of blunted daggers, and waited patiently. Chat Noir jumped forward, "my lady!" He called out. "We have a guest!"

Ladybug glanced back at Basile, making him pause. That was Marinette. She clearly didn't recognize him, and he supposed he liked it better that way. No wonder her answers about Ladybug had been so vague, yet so specific at the same time.

Watching the two fight was pretty interesting. They knew each other so well, and worked together perfectly. Basile shrugged, "I suppose I'll just have to work around them. He walked around the other side quietly, the grey and white of his suit blending in with the roof. Then he jumped with a delighted laugh, landing on the Teachinator's back. She spun around in the air, desperately trying to get him off. He clung to her, knocking the glue gun out of her hand to the ground.

Ladybug broke the gun and a little black butterfly came out. Still clinging to the Teachinator's back, he watched in astonishment as she caught it in her yoyo and it turned white, fluttering away. He landed on the roof and the Teachinator landed beside him, transforming back to the regular teacher. Basile shook his head to clear it, "what was that?" Surprisingly, he had no accent detectible in his perfect French. That was part of being Mockingbird: he could copy any accent, any voice, perfectly.

"That was an akuma," Ladybug said. She held out her hand. "Ladybug." He shook it, "Mockingbird. I just moved here." He grinned, "you two make a great team." Chat Noir grinned at the comment and Ladybug smiled. "Thank you, and thanks for your help." She turned everything back to normal. Basile saluted to them and glided off the roof. He transformed behind a street corner and hurried back to class, where people were chattering about the recent battle. Alya was at it with her Ladyblog again, and she had gotten a shot of Mockingbird. She was typing up a bunch of questions about him, and of course, about Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Basile just smiled innocently and sat down. He glanced at Marinette, wondering if he should confront her. He decided not to just yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Basile took a deep breath of the warm, Parisian night air, leaning against the rail of the balcony as Marinette watered her plants. He had been in school for a few weeks now, and had been working with Ladybug and Chat Noir more as they battled akumas. He generally just stayed out of the way as they battled, only stepping in when the situation got dire. Chat Noir loved him, because he appreciated the rather terrible cat puns, and Ladybug liked him because he was helpful and often comforted the victims once they were de-akumized. The city also seemed fascinated with him, because he was new and mysterious, just like they were fascinated with the other two heroes.

Basile had yet to confront Marinette about her secret. He didn't see how no one else figured it out. He supposed it was because she was family and he knew her face well. She still hadn't figured out that he was Mockingbird, and he liked it that way.

Basile looked up at the bloody sky, where the sunset was just beginning to fade. It was a beautiful sight, especially since he could see the Eiffel tower. The air was so clean and fresh, not like it had been in the city in China. "You like it here?" Marinette spoke softly to him, not wanting to disturb the peace of the moment. "Yes, I do." He answered after a moment. "It's a very special city, isn't it?" He could see Marinette's nod out of the corner of his eye.

"I still wonder who Ladybug and Chat Noir are, though," he glanced at her for any reaction. She shrugged, "everyone does." Basile smiled lightly to himself. Then he changed the subject. "You managed to exchange a whole greeting with Adrien today," he laughed softly. She squirted him with her spray bottle. "Hey!" He jumped away, shaking water drops out of his hair.

"I'm serious though," he ran his fingers over a rose petal. "You're getting better at conversation with him. Why does he throw you off guard anyway?" He asked, smelling the sweet rose. Marinette giggled a bit, "the same reason you get flustered every time you speak to Nathanael." Basile pouted, "but he's adorable." Marinette replied, "and Adrien is worthy of godhood."

"I bet he isn't really like that," Basile began, though he didn't know for sure. "He's too controlled, I bet he's only like that because he has to be." Marinette looked offended, "that's nonsense! You're just jealous because you're no where close to being as angelic as he is." Basile laughed, "I wouldn't want to be. I'm better off as the friendly foreign kid, who just happens to be an amazing singer! I'll leave the greek god model stuff to him." Marinette shook her head, her eyes alight with amusement.

* * *

Late that night, Basile woke to the stench of smoke. He shot up out of his sleeping bag and looked around for the source. Smoke was leaking up through the trap door. Fear coursed through him as the smoke alarm started blaring. "Marinette" he whimpered and crawled over to her bed, unable to think clearly. "Marinette, we're burning." Marinette woke up and saw the smoke, "oh no!" She opened the trap door and smoke poured into the room. Coughing and holding their breath, they went down the stairs hand in hand. Basile stumbled towards the door and burst outside, gasping for clean air.

As it turns out, one of the ovens had just been left on and the inside had caught fire. Other than that, there was no damage. It was put out with a fire extinguisher. Basile sat outside on the sidewalk, holding his head and sitting very still. He hadn't known that the very idea of fire terrified him, but he supposed it made sense, after what had happened to his parents. Sabine came out and draped a blanket over his shoulders. "It's alright, Basile, it's over now." Basile pulled the blanket around himself, even though it was warm, and closed his eyes.

* * *

Basile was a little shaken up at school the next morning, and thankfully no one bothered him about it. During lunch, he was packing up his things, when Nathanael approached him. "Would you like to eat together?" The red-head asked, his face nearly as red as his hair. "I know a cafe nearby that has delicious sundaes." Basile smiled and nodded, "s-sure." He caught Marinette and Alya grinning at him as they left the school together.

They walked in silence, but it wasn't awkward. It was peaceful. They sat down at an outside table at the cafe and ordered lunch. Nathanael was the first to strike up conversation. "You're Marinette's cousin." Basile nodded, "I am." They ate their lunch and waited for the sundaes to arrive. "Marinette says you're into art," Basile was the one to attempt conversation again. Nathanael nodded, "I am. Would you like to see something I created? It's a picture of the new superhero, Mockingbird. It's hard to get more than a glimpse of him at any given time, and he doesn't like to stay to talk to the press, but I managed to get enough of a look to draw him." Basile nodded eagerly and scooted closer.

Nathanael flipped through his sketchbook, not letting Basile see what else was inside. Then he opened to a beautifully drawn picture coloured with oil paints of mockingbird with his wings spread. There was a shadow, and the image seemed to be illuminated from behind where a building was burning. Nathanael likely did this so the face wouldn't have to be detailed, just the outline and a silhouette. His wings were spread protectively over a child hugging his legs. The child's face was hidden and the detail obviously wasn't focused there, but it was still detailed right down to the folds in the cloth. The whole picture was beautifully detailed, but what stood out to Basile was the eyes of the hero. It seemed that Nathanael poured a lot of effort into those eyes, those hard eyes that stared out of the page, daring anyone to challenge him, daring anyone to come for him, daring anyone to harm the child he sheltered; beautiful pools of cerulean blue that seemed to stare right into Basile's soul.

Did his own eyes really look like that?

"That's amazing, Nathanael," Basile complimented the picture, but no words could do it justice. "May I take a picture of it?" Nathanael nodded. Basile's phone camera couldn't completely capture the scene the way the original painting did, but it was enough. Nathanael smiled a bit, "I plan on painting it bigger, this is one of my best. I already have a large canvas at home, but I almost want to paint it on a wall." Basile grinned, "that sounds wonderful. How big is your canvas?" Nathanael shrugged, "not big enough. They ran out of the size I wanted." Basile leaned back, "I bet I could get a big one for you." Nathanael lit up, "really? I'd appreciate that."

That was how Basile found himself after school in an art supply store, asking the employee for their biggest canvas, no matter the cost. He had plenty of money from his parent's life insurance, and had no real cause to save it, so how bad could a bit of spending really be? It was a good thing that the store was close to Nathanael's house, because the canvas that Basile had managed to get the staff to reveal was at least three times his size vertically and twice his size horizontally, and he couldn't carry it himself. After they managed to get the thing to Nathanael's, there was the problem of getting it inside. It wasn't about to fit through the door, not even close. So they left it under a tarp under an awning for the time being.

The next day, Basile had the art gallery director come and see the first painting. He was a people person, or could at least act like one, and convinced the director to let Nathanael keep the canvas in the gallery in a back room where he could work, provided that the finished piece be on display next to a sculpture of Ladybug and Chat Noir that was a smaller version of the one in the park, also done by Theo.

Nathanael looked like a kid on his birthday when he finally got the canvas and his paints into the chilly back room. The whole process took a few days, but he could finally start. "Basile," he asked just as Basile was about to leave him to his work. "Yes?" "I don't need you to yet, but will you be a model for me later on? I want to get the proportions right. This is my first professional painting, if you can call it that." Basile smiled and nodded.

Just then, there were screams of fright from outside. Basile and Nathanael looked at each other and rushed out to see what the commotion was. An akuma attack was taking place, and it was getting ugly.


	3. Chapter 3

Basile urged Nathanael to go back to the room to be safe while this new villain, the Pain-ter (my puns are worse than Chat's) turned people into stone sculptures. Basile then ducked behind the building and transformed. He sauntered out, observing the scene. "Hey, Medusa!" He called out, and the villain turned on him. "I'm the Pain-ter! That commission was mine! MINE! I was supposed to depict Mockingbird! Not some high school brat!" Mockingbird chuckled, "well I'm right here, why don't you do your work now?"

However, instead of shooting petrification at him like he expected, the Pain-ter stood in front of him. "Alright, don't move." He petrified a nearby phone booth and whipped out some carving tools seemingly from nowhere. Mockingbird, who was confused, could hear Hawkmoth fussing at the Pain-ter to get the miraculous, and the reply, "I will as soon as this is done!"

Mockingbird let the Pain-ter pose him with his arms out, feathers extended, his feet at shoulder-width, and his head leaned back, looking at the sky. His eyes were closed.

"Mockingbird?" Ladybug stood beside him. Pain-ter screeched "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Mockingbird dared to open one eye to look at her. "Let him do his thing, then we'll fix this, okay?" Ladybug was confused, but stepped back and waited. She filled in Chat Noir when he arrived.

Mockingbird noticed Nathanael peering out the doors, taking photographs for reference. He decided that once all this was over, he would do some modeling for him, just for some pictures.

It took hours for the man to finish, well into the night, though that was actually fast for such a project. Chat had fallen asleep. Mockingbird's arms ached, and Marinette was bored out of her mind. "I have finished!" Mockingbird let his arms drop, letting out a groan of relief. He looked at the sculpture. It was actually pretty impressive, not a detail missed. "Bravo, Pain-ter. It's lovely." He rolled his arms and shoulders, wincing at the stiffness.

The battle finally began. Mockingbird leaned against a wall and watched, massaging his sore thighs and calves. Chat Noir and Ladybug handled the incident pretty quickly, and the Pain-ter was back to a normal middle-aged sculptor.

After sharing a celebratory fist-bump, Ladybug used her lucky charm to clean up the mess and Chat Noir observed the statue. Fortunately, the charm didn't turn the stone back into a phone booth. "You know, we'll have to change the fist bump. We cant leave out our feathered friend here," Chat mused. Mockingbird waved his hand dismissively, "don't bother, I'm not really interested." Chat shrugged and went back to admiring the statue.

Ladybug's earrings beeped. "Gotta go!" "I look forward to our next meeting, my lady~" Chat winked flirtatiously and Ladybug zipped off into the night.

Mockingbird carried the statue into the gallery and put it beside the one of Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was heavy, but nothing his superhero persona couldn't handle.

Then he went to find Nathanael. He opened the door to the room and the red-head was there, flicking through his pictures and mumbling to himself. Mockingbird leaned on the doorway and cleared his throat. Nathanael looked up and his eyes widened, "Mockingbird! Hold still!" He took another photo and cleared his throat shyly. "How can I help you?" Mockingbird got a playful smirk on his face, "actually, I was wondering if I could help you. I know I can be hard to catch, and I don't like to be still for too long. Perhaps you'd like to take some photos for your masterpiece here?"

The first thing Nathanael took pictures of were his eyes, up close and with different expressions. Then he took some body shots from different angles. He seemed to have a ball when Mockingbird let him touch the feathers. "They're soft... actual feathers." Mockingbird nodded, "Yes, they're real feathers. That tickles a bit." Nathanael nodded, "so are they part of you?" "Not exactly, they're part of my kwami, the thing that gives me power. The kwami is also sort of part of me." "A kwami? Ladybug and Chat Noir- lif your arm a bit- have jewelry that holds their powers." Mockingbird nodded, "yes, I'm the same."

After about an hour, Nathanael was done. "It's late," Mockingbird said, yawning widely. "You should be getting home." Nathanael nodded and packed up the things he was bringing home. The rest would stay there. "I'll take you home." Mockingbird offered, heading out of the building.

The walk was a peaceful one, with the streetlights dimming the lights of the stars overhead. When they reached Nathanael's house, Mockingbird bowed and made his exit. He climbed onto the roof of a tall building and searched for the bakery. Ah, there it was, he could see it in the distance. He jumped, spreading his arms and gliding to land just in front of the door. He de-transformed, catching an exhausted Ptak in his hand. "You're so mean to me, making me pose for hours like that," the little gray thing complained. "You weren't the one who had to stand there with aching muscles." Basile tucked Ptak in his pocket and headed inside.

Fortunately, everyone was asleep by then, so he crept into Marinette's room after feeding Ptak some warm bread and laid down in his sleeping bag, sleep quickly overtaking him.

* * *

Basile woke in a cold sweat, with the stench of smoke still burning in his nostrils. He ran his fingers through his hair and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked down at Ptak, who was sleeping soundly on his pillow. He looked over to Marinette's bed and noticed that she was gone. He checked the time, it was around three in the morning. _What on earth is she doing?_ He wondered and got up, going to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water.

He woke Ptak, who was not pleased, and went up on the balcony. In the distance, he saw two shapes leaping over the rooftops. _A night patrol? That seems reasonable,_ he thought to himself and transformed, gliding after them. A strong wind blew through the air, boosting him into the sky and bringing a grin to his face. He couldn't help but to let out a laugh as the wind buffeted him, sending him in all different directions. He saw the two figures below, still racing along the rooftops and seemingly doing their best to outpace each other, and turned his arms so he went down to glide along beside them.

Ladybug was the first to see him. "Mockingbird! What are you doing out so late?" "I could ask you the same," he replied, giving his arms a bit of a flap and going up a bit, catching the next current of wind. Chat Noir jumped on him suddenly, making him wobble and struggle to stay in the air. "Get off!" Chat laughed and clung to his back, "this is incredible!" "We're not even that high, now get off, you're heavy." The wind was fading and he couldn't land with Chat on his back. Chat jumped off and Mockingbird landed, running a few steps to keep his balance. He huffed a bit and scowled at Chat, who was grinning, "what was _claw_ some!" Ladybug groaned and rolled her eyes.

Mockingbird fluffed his feathers and sat atop a chimneystack. "So you two patrol?" Ladybug nodded, "have to make sure Paris is safe, even in the dead of night." Mockingbird smirked and gave her the first clue that he knew her, "what if someone wakes and notices you're gone?" Ladybug tilted her head a bit.

Chat peered down over a city block, "hey, look at that." He pointed to a woman running, looking terrified and stumbling. She clutched something to her chest. Mockingbird stood beside him, observing as a burly man came around the corner. He had a ski mask and a gun in his hand. Mockingbird had barreled into him before he had the chance to use it.

The police had apparently already been on their way for a domestic disturbance and picked up the man without any trouble. The woman thanked Mockingbird profusely, but he waved her away. She shook his hand. He was surprised to find something being pressed into his palm, but he kept his face neutral as she left. He looked back at the other two heroes observing from the roof. Ladybug nodded approvingly and Chat gave him a big thumbs up.

Pressed into his palm was a small ear cuff, purple, with no visible markings on it. It felt alive somehow. Mockingbird tucked it into a pocket. Little did he know that the little ear cuff would change his life once again, and unlike with Ptak, it wouldn't be for the better.

* * *

feel free to let the author know if you have ideas, because honestly, I have no idea where I'm going with this.


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